Big tech backing Trump is inevitability
Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, in a podcast released this week, said that their decision to support Donald Trump for the US Presidential election was the result of “the final straw” presented by Joe Biden’s Budget proposal. “The only big policy platform he had were sweeping tax cuts, which was a huge giveaway to corporations,” they added.
CrowdStrike Update crashed the world’s computers
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz in an interview said, “We are working with customers impacted by the defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” He added, “The issue is not linked to a cyberattack.” Earlier on Friday, millions of machines globally were unable to run Windows operating system because of a bug in CrowdStrike’s software.
Banks, airlines and broadcasters are being offline due to a major Windows BSOD issue
Several global organisations are facing outages due to a bug in CrowdStrike’s Windows software update that caused many IT issues. UK-based Sky News has said its morning news bulletins are currently unable to be broadcast and that it is experiencing a “third party” IT issue. Ryanair, one of the biggest airlines in Europe, also said it’s experiencing a “third-party” IT issue.
Bob Newhart is holding up
Bob Newhart, the American comedian who died aged 94 on Thursday, was known for his stand-up routines. He had worked in advertising for longer than he did as an accountant. Newhart rocketed to the top because he was able to understand a Middle American type of man: the Everyman, who is overwhelmed by a world that sometimes seems weird.
The Reality of Human-Washing is Blurred
US hacker and politician Audrey Tang has said that only people – the demos in democracy – can save democracy. “Only people, the demos in democracy, can save democracy, but AI can help if it’s deployed to assist or augment collective intelligence,” Tang said. Social media companies could use AI to boost their content so that people engage in conversations that bridge, rather than cause ideological schisms.
There are great Prime Day tech deals you can still get
Amazon has reduced the price of Sony’s WH-CH520 smartbuds from 29,000 to just 19,900 on its Prime Day sale. It is also lowering the price of Apple’s AirPods from 14,000 to 19,000. Amazon also slashed the price of Bose’s earbuds from 20,000 to 16,000 on its Prime Day sale.
There are a lot of Prime Day deals on Amazon
Amazon has announced that it will be discounting its Kindle Paperwhite E-reader by 50% for a limited time. The discounted price will be available from June 23 through July 20. The Paperwhite is Amazon’s second-best-selling e-reader after the Kindle Paperwhite 2. It has over two times the battery life of the Kindle Paperwhite 2, a spokesperson said.
You can get some great deals on Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day is underway and it’s offering up to 34% off on products, including everything from smart home devices to headphones. The deals are valid till July 17 and can also be availed through e-commerce site’s website and app. Among other things, the sale is also offering free two-day shipping for Prime members.
Silicon Valley powerhouses, including Musk, rallied behind the VP pick
The America PAC campaign against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, which has raised almost $9 million to date, has raised over $1 million in donations from Khosla Ventures Managing Director Keith Rabois. Rabois said he’ll donate $1 million to the campaign. He added that he and other Khosla employees were told that the president would be more tolerant of businesses incriptocurrency industry.
Apple, Anthropic, and other companies used videos on YouTube to train their machines
Over 100 videos from The Verge are included in an interactive dataset that helps users find content being used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. The dataset includes videos from the likes of YouTubers PewDiePie, MrBeast and Jacksepticeye among others. It is available on The Verge’s website, where users can use its search feature to find their content.